This invention involves a modified technique to produce a more efficient use of an approved medical device—the elliptical excisional skin biopsy punch. Commercially available elliptically shaped skin biopsy punches have been available for decades. However, due to the elliptical shape of the cutting blade of this type of punch, it cannot be rotated back and forth like a round punch to do a skin biopsy. Instead the manufacturer recommended technique advises the insertion of one of the angled ends of the elliptically shaped blade into the skin and then forcibly rocking the blade back and forth to cut through the skin. This technique requires heavy pressure and prolonged rocking back and forth to cut through the skin. Even so, this technique produces poor quality biopsy specimens without clean edges and with increasing crush effect with the smaller size punches. This technique also obviates the main advantages of an elliptically shaped excision which are to produce a wound that is easier to surgically close and to produce a more pleasing cosmetic scar than that produced by a round punch biopsy.
This invention describes a modified technique that makes the elliptical excisional biopsy punch fast and efficient in producing a sharply demarcated elliptically shaped wound by attaching the handle of the punch to a hand-held battery powered driver unit. This driver unit produces very rapid and short, back and forth oscillations of the attached elliptical punch blade in an almost vibratory motion which allows it to quickly slice completely through the involved skin in 1-2 seconds. Also, the resulting biopsy specimen has sharp edges with little crush effect and the resulting wound maintains the shape and size of any sized punch that is used.
Identifying part numbers (in parentheses) used in the application and in each Figure remain the same throughout.